Hardened steel snap rings are commonly used in industry to retain parts within a cylindrical bore. They are of uniform thickness but of varying width, the medial portion being somewhat thinner than the ends where the much wider apertured lugs are located. Plier-like tools having blunted tines on the jaw ends are used to insert and remove the rings from within the internal annular grooves provided therefor in the bore. This is a simple operation provided that the lugs are intact, however, it is not at all uncommon to have all or portions thereof break off in which event the plier-like tool becomes totally ineffective to remove them. If only one lug is missing, the problem is not too serious since, oftentimes, one can still pry the end that still has the lug free of its groove far enough to get something in behind it and thereby effect its removal. As a matter of fact, single-pinned tools for prying the good end free are available for just this situation.
The real problem arises when both lugs are missing or at least so much of them that the usual removal tools have nothing to grab onto. Actually, the problem can be further subdivided into those situations where there is a space left beneath the ring and those where there is none, the latter being the most difficult of all to cope with. In our copending application Ser. No. 928,829, we disclose a set of snap ring removal tools together with the method of using same that are especially adapted for use in the situation where the snap ring cannot be accessed from underneath. This, application, on the other hand, deals with the somewhat simpler situation in which there is a space left between the ring and the endplate of the retained part.